KALMAZOO (WKZO-AM)– The Kalamazoo County Commission is sticking with John Faul as their interim administrator, but the vote Tuesday night was not unanimous.
It was followed by warnings from Commissioner Stephanie Moore that people could be protesting outside county headquarters within days. She made the claim after receiving complaints about Faul from her constituents.
It’s not the kind of breakdown in local government that incumbents like to see in an election year. Commissioner Kevin Wordleman said there isn’t much point in looking for a new administrator right now because no one worth hiring would apply, given the events of the last year and a half.
But there is another reason. Almost to a person, the commissioners said there are deep problems with the culture of county staff and, until they fix those problems, there is no point in looking for a permanent replacement for Terrence Neuzil.
There were suggestions it might involve discrimination, but county attorney Thom Canny admonished commissioners for publicly discussing such issues in public.
Last night, the Commission agreed to create a human resources committee to begin tackling the culture problems. Faul said he will also do what he can to address the cultural problems too.
More than one county commissioner said the situation with Neuzil was handled badly by staff and by commission leadership, which did not keep the board fully informed.
They say the entire matter blew up before they had a chance to intervene and Neuzil resigned before they had a chance to step in.
